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Latest News
Norway’s Halden reactor takes first step toward decommissioning
The government of Norway has granted the transfer of the Halden research reactor from the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) to the state agency Norwegian Nuclear Decommissioning (NND). The 25-MWt Halden boiling water reactor operated from 1958 to 2018 and was used in the research of nuclear fuel, reactor internals, plant procedures and monitoring, and human factors.
M. D. McSmith, G. D. Loesser, D. K. Owens
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 26 | Number 3 | November 1994 | Pages 498-502
Fusion Material and Plasma-Facing Component | Proceedings of the Eleventh Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy New Orleans, Louisiana June 19-23, 1994 | doi.org/10.13182/FST94-A40205
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
During the past three Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) vacuum vessel machine openings, an extensive effort was undertaken to optimize the distribution of heating of the bumper limiter tiles. The optimization was achieved by locating the limiter tiles relative to the toroidal magnetic field and adjusting their position relative to the magnetic field rather than to fixed points in the vacuum vessel walls. This paper will discuss the results of these alignments as measured during operation with the limiter thermocouple system and subsequent visual inspection during this past TFTR vacuum vessel opening. During the most recent in-vessel inspection (January 1993), damage to the top and bottom rows of the bumper limiter tiles was noted. More tiles were damaged on the lower row than the upper row. Tiles on the right side of the bottom row and to a lesser extent tiles on the left side of the top row were damaged. The location of the damage corresponds to the plasma power flux direction. Theories explaining the asymmetric damage (bottom versus top) are summarized. Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) began a program to replace 223 of the originally installed tiles made from POCO AFX-5Q graphite. Of these 223 tiles, 151 were replaced with tiles made from carbon-fiber-composite (CFC) and 158 of these tiles were redesigned for installation on the top or bottom rows. The re-designed tiles have a tapered edge that reduces the angle of incidence of the power flux on the edge surface that was over-heating. This paper will review the in-vessel work and discuss the final modification of the TFTR bumper limiter to alleviate further damage at these locations prior to DT operation of TFTR.
